it's a hard job. it's an awesome responsibility. i know, right now, i got the lives of over 150,000 american men and women in my hands. i don't want to make a mistake. but i'm human and i recognize that i might. and i worry about that. regardless of the outcome, if when this whole thing is over i can still say to myself, you gave it your best shot then that's got to be enough. the passing of a great american general, norman schwarzkopf, a man whose victories during operation dessert storm. good morning, everyone. i'm brian sullivan and this is "way too early." thank you for being with us this morning. we have a lot to talk about this

friday. including the president. trying to bring both sides together at the white house today to try to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff. in the meantime, harry reid refers to john boehner's leadership as a dictatorship. not helpful. but first, to your top stories this morning -- retired general norman schwarzkopf died thursday at his home in tampa, florida, he's credited with devising the plan that drove saddam hussein's forces out of kuwait in 1991. known as stormin' norman for his strong personality. the general said that he did agree with president george h.w. bush's decision not to follow saddam's decision into baghdad. >> ladies and gentlemen, when we

here, we were 150 miles away from baghdad and there's nobody between us and bagsd. if our intention to take iraq, to destroy the country, if it had been our intention to overrun the country, we could have done it unopposed from this position at that time. >> schwarzkopf was honored for his service with the medal of freedom. queen elizabeth even awarded him with a knight hood. former president george h.w. bush praised his leadership yesterday. general schwarzkopf is survived by his wife and three kids. he was 78 years old. joining us now by phone, jack jacobs, medal of honor recipient and knew general schwarzkopf well. welcome to "way too early." i know that you knew general

schwarzkopf very well. your thoughts on his passing, sir? >> i knew him from years and years ago. he was lieutenant and i was a major. he had the reputation he acquired later on as stormin' norman. he was well known by everyone. he made his mark. >> how did he lead? >> say it again. >> how did he lead, how did he win the troops? >> typically, he led from the front. and that's kind of unusual especially today when it's easy to do otherwise through technolo technologically means. he was always up front. some people accused him of being extremely flamboyant. unnecessarily flamboyant. but his personality was such that he couldn't possibly do it any other way. in vietnam, he did it exactly the same way as he did it every

other time. sometimes recklessly as a matter of fact, he was occasionally accused of being reckless and all of us have made mistakes in combat and he made his share, too, but he had people working for him, who loved working for him. even though he -- he occasionally -- he occasionally dealt with them in an extremely harsh way. but they would follow them. >> colonel jack jacobs, thank you for taking some time for us today, sir. >> my great pleasure. turning now to what may be the phrase of the year, the fiscal cliff, and with the calendar as the enemy the two sides desperate to hammer out a deal. this afternoon the president

will sit down with congressional leaders at the white house. the hope is that both sides can agree to a compromise to prevent the economy from sliding back into a recession. but judging from some of the rhetoric on capitol hill, we still got a long way to go, folks. >> if we go over the cliff, we will be left with the knowledge that could have been prevented with a single vote. american people i don't think understand the house of representatives is operating without the house of representatives. it's being operated with a de dictatdec dictatorship of the speaker. john boehner seems to care more about keeping his speaker ship. he's waiting until january 3rd to get reelected as speaker before he gets serious with negotiations. because he has so many people over there. that won't follow what he wants.

that's obvious from the debacle that took place last week. >> tough words from the democrats. to the republicans, though, it's the other party that needs to act. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell insists he's not going to be the one to blink first. >> we're coming up on a hard deadline. this is a conversation we should have had months ago and republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything senate democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. >> tax hikes remain at the center of the stand-off. what is the dividing line between those gets those tax breaks extended and those who do not. they're holding out hope for an 11-hour deal. hardly the first time that washington has pushed things to the edge. >> i actually think there's

still a chance to get something done. so, you know, these deals usually come together at the last moment. >> why are you cautiously optimistic when it seems everyone else is saying we're going to go over the cliff? >> well, to paraphrase ronald reagan, there's so much manure around here there has to be a pony around here. no one wants tax hikes on 98% of the american people. the president faces a potential default in the coming months unless the debt ceiling is raised again. a mo >> it's somewhat like taking your child hostage and saying to somebody else i'm going to shoot my child if you don't want done.

there's no republican leader that wants to default on our debt that i talked to, that should be nonpartisan. >> congressman, not the best choice of words. anyway, the house will reconvene this week. for your trivia types out there, only the fifth time in more than 70 years members have been called into work stween christmas and new year's. elsewhere today, secretary of state hillary clinton is headed back to work next week. clinton's illness forced to cancel her scheduled testimony on the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> yesterday, senator marco rubio called for clinton to testify, citing failures at the state department.

no date has been set for her benghazi testimony. and there's another cabin cabinet-level vacancy in the obama administration, epa head lisa jackson announced yesterday that she's stepping down. she spent plenty of her time sparring with congressional leaders over issues of global warming and the keystone pipeline. the president praised jackson's efforts at the epa yesterday. meantime the gun control story continues in the wake of the sandy hook shootings and the reaction on the state and local levels is varying dramatically across the country. some are doing whatever they can to take gunts off the streets. los angeles collected more than

200,000 guns. 75 assault rifles included in that title, two rocket launchers were turned in for cash. rocket launchers. elsewhere, though, people are flocking to buy guns. at this shop in des moines, iowa, callers have emptied the stores. state legislators are looking to their 2013 sessions to maybe change gun laws. in south carolina, a bill has been proposed to exempt the state from federal regulations of guns and ammunition made there. eight other states have similar laws and 40 other states have

filed similar legislation. all right, time now for a much needed break this morning. as always, let us know why you're awake. e-mail us at waytoo early at msnbc.com. still ahead -- the jets find greg mcelroy, the backup to the backup is going to be the backup once again. think it's tebow time on the jets? right. >> you're not going to believe this one, i'm going to start mark sanchez. >> no love for tebow. we're going to show you what tebow had to say about it and get a check of your friday weather when "way too early" comes right back. in buffalo, new york, a white christmas for the record

books has now become a state of emergency. dig out from 17 feet of snow in just 5 days.

last couple of days were pretty awful around here weatherwise. a beautiful friday morning heading into the weekend. but there still could be mystery ahead weather wise. nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. >> we're going to see some snow as we get -- as we go into this weekend. saturday, the storm is still back across louisiana, but it's going to move through the mid-atlantic and eventually offshore, it's not a big storm, but we're looking at some snow, there's a chance we could end up i would say, 1 to 3 inches.

most widespread totals that will come across with this storm. along the coastline, the south, especially the eastern tip of long island, mostly rain. just west a little bit, that's the area where we could see three, five-inch reports. today looks just fine. lots of sunshine across the northeast. a little chilly. temperatures today should top out in the mid to upper 30s. brian? >> you solved the mystery it's going to be pink, purple and light green all over the east coast this weekend. do you get the scooby doo reference? >> i got it. sports now, jets' game of musical quarterbacks continues. with greg mcelroy suffering from concussionlike symptoms you think it would be tim tebow time?

you would be wrong. mark sanchez gets the nod once again because tebow has reported been at odds with rex ryan after expressing displeasure in his role. >> i all right, first off, you're not going to believe this one i'm going to start mark sanchez and the reason i'm starting mark is, we have two practices and one walk through to get ready for buffalo, mark has success earlier in the season against buffalo, he's very fame lar with him. i had the conversation with both mark and tim a few minutes ago about what i was going to do. obviously, you know, tim is not happy with that. >> i understand and you know, i told coach i understand. you're a competitor.

you want to play. understood is the decision. just let him know. >> like the fiscal cliff negotiations with the jets right there. sanchez had his best game of the season in week one against the bills. he threw for three touchdowns. the jets won back then. to the nba, where the nets gave avery johnson his walking papers yesterday. they fired him after 2 1/2 years with the team. the nets who had high expectations because of a new arena, have slumped badly over the past month. they're 14-14 right now. sitting in seventh place right now in the eastern conference standings. yesterday, johnson addressed the call to let him go. >> you're a .500 team, two more home games at home that something like this would happen. this is ownership's decision. this is what we sign up for, i

talked to you about this a couple of days ago, this is part of our business, fair or unfair, it doesn't matter. >> the nets assistant p.j. carlesimo will become the interim head coach. espn reports that phil jackson is the top target as the replacement. jackson's agent told him that he has no interest in coaching the nets. coming up on morning joe, general norman schwarzkopf, passes away at the age of 78. we'll discuss his life and legacy straight ahead. we're not done just yet here. when we come back -- we'll remember some of the other great names that passed on in 2012. "way too early" will be right back. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to.

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finally as we round out the year on way too early, we want to remember the names and faces of those who passed away this year. nbc nightly news put together this terrific tribute last night. ♪ and i will always love you ♪ will always love you

♪ >> mom, leave me alone! >> mr. president. >> the survey said -- >> you have succeeded in becoming the perfect failure. . >> what is the sesame street number of the day? ♪

♪ we're movin' on up to the top ♪ >> yes, yes, yes! >> i'll have what she's having. ♪ at last ♪ my love has come along ♪ my lonely days are over ♪ and life is like a song ♪ oh, yeah ♪ at last ♪ the stars above the blue

♪ let's dance the last dance tonight ♪ ♪ stayin' alive >> we wish you love, peace and soul! >> american bandstand. >> hottest dance sensation in the last four years. ♪ spin me around again ♪ rub my eyes because this can't be happening ♪ >> can't we all get along? ♪

♪ daydream believers and homecoming queen ♪ ♪ moon river wider than a mile ♪ i'm crossing you in style >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> lift off of st 7 and the first woman astronaut. >> come home, america. come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. >> making all kinds -- may i ask my question, please, sir?

you watch that, you're standing on shoulders of giants that come before us. still ahead on way too early -- why are you awake. your tweets, your texts, smoke signals and pigeons. next, on "way too early." consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites: duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. so, whether it's 10 years' of life's sunny days... or... the occasional stormy one... trust goes a long way. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere.